by Charlie Bailey (@hectic_skeptic)
Chad VanGaalen has been doing indie folk for a long time, his first album releasing on Sub Pop in 2005. Fast forward to now and VanGaalen is a father of two and releasing more music than ever from his multitude of projects and collaborations—everything bypassing streaming and going straight to Bandcamp. Freedom from labels and streaming has allowed him to expand his sonic universe and create anything from ambient synth music to indefinable folk with homemade instruments.
We sat down with Chad VanGaalen to talk about Calgary, the unique perspective of aging in the rapidly modernizing music scene, and how making art stays with you no matter what.
Chad VanGaalen by Marc Rimmer
Post Trash: What’s the music scene like in Calgary?
Chad VanGaalen: It kind of comes and goes. There’s always sort of a mass exodus of musicians it seems like. It sort of builds up to a peak then everyone moves to Vancouver or Montreal… Except for me. If you have kids I guess it’s different. You’re more prone to staying put. That being said there’s bands like Bug Incision, this series of weird noise music that’s been going on for almost 20 years now. It’s a pretty robust scene, there’s stuff always cropping up. I'm old though, so I’m probably not the right person to ask. If there’s weirdos playing I’ll go out for sure.
PT: How’s Dad life treating you?
CVG: Oh man, it's traumatic I gotta say. It’s ups and downs, a lot of drama. I have two teenage girls: 18 and 16. One’s in Colombia right now traveling, her first outing by herself. It’s cool, I would phone my parents like once every couple weeks while travelling, but now it’s like this; I was just video chatting with my daughter.
PT: I guess there are some benefits to the technology.
CVG: Exactly. Well, it’s very high drama because they let you know as soon as something happens. When I was that old things came and went. You passed out in a bush and your friends couldn’t find you at the festival, but they weren’t phoning your parents. They weren’t like “We’re on mushrooms and we can’t find Chad!” And you’re like some parent on the other side of the world being like “What the fuck!”
PT: Do you ever have the chance to collaborate with other artists? I was reading that you recorded a Women album awhile ago and I just saw Cindy Lee last year so I made the connection.
CVG: Pat and I are really close. Yeah I recorded their records and we were all close friends which is how that worked out.
PT: That’s a lot of what I’ve heard from Calgary, musically I’m not too tapped into what’s coming out of there. But you just put out three albums. I’m sure you have a huge backlog of music, were some of them also recorded recently?
CVG: As I come to think of it, all the Full Moon Bummer stuff is my main outlet for “song” songs. I put out Scent of a Mountain in November or December and I just released another one a couple weeks ago. A lot of the Nth stuff piles up and I go through it. That record I had actually completely forgotten about and then my friend Aaron, who I recorded a record with a couple years ago, asked me if I still had the tapes. I realized I recorded that album and then got sidetracked and completely forgot about it, so I quickly compiled it and put that out.
PT: How do you decide what project you’re going to put stuff out under? Or hey, I’m going to start compiling music now under Chad VanGaalen as opposed to Full Moon Bummer.
CVG: Full Moon Bummer is the permanent title for all of the song stuff. Chad VanGaalen was just for Sub Pop, and now that that’s over I’m just releasing songs as Full Moon Bummer. All the Nth stuff is synth based, and then the Peace Museum collaboration I just did with Chick White. He’s an incredible improviser who plays the mouth harp, but also improvises on guitar. Those Peace Museum records come out on Bandcamp Friday and we donate everything to Doctors Without Borders. I love Bandcamp now because it allows be to donate money where I want to and release music on a whim.
PT: You were an early adopter of taking your music off of Spotify I noticed.
CVG: Oh man it took so long! All that digital devil’s work of what the labels have to do to remove your profile. It’s still not totally removed. There’s still a record up there from Altin Village. It’s a weird time to be a musician, it’s hard to be ethical. I’m talking to you on an iPhone that my wife bought for me. But everyone has their own shit and it’s really heartbreaking to know that all the hard work you’re doing is being compressed by these fucking demon lords. It’s hard to navigate. How do you do it? I’ve had a really hard time since removing myself, like “what do I do now?” My kids can’t listen to my music; that’s probably the most heartbreaking part.
PT: Go on Bandcamp!
CVG: Go on Bandcamp and type my name in. But they’re like “How can I put you on my playlist?” At the same time I’m in a lucky situation where if people are paying attention to your work, that’s awesome. But if you’re a band just starting out and having to go on tour and promote yourself, it’s a necessity.
PT: I’m sure you’ve seen it change a lot since when you were first starting out.
CVG: It’s night and day. There’s good things about it, but personally it’s hard with merch, records, and CDs which not a lot of people collect anymore. It’s all about streaming and promoting yourself. It’s wild.
PT: You’re in a lucky situation where you’re past that point in your career. You’re also creating beyond music; a lot of visual art, scoring movies?
CVG: I did a few silent movie things. I worked on a show called Dream Corp LLC on Adult Swim for a few years doing the sound for them, and that was awesome. But mostly now I just do paintings and moving sculptural pieces. I used to do a lot of animation too, but then AI came along and kind of gutted all that work.
PT: Sickening. I was trying to turn off AI search on Google Chrome, and I was directed to a help page which gave me an AI answer, trying to explain how you do it. And you can’t! The human comments say you literally cannot turn it off anymore!
CVG: I feel like that’s part of the frustration, or most of the frustration these days. How do you exist outside of it? It is the only ingredient being offered up.
PT: Even if you’re avoiding it, it’s there. Are you still doing most of your recordings analog?
CVG: It’s kind of a mix these days. A lot of my tape machines need a lot of maintenance. If I’m doing drums I’ll record on tape and bounce it to my 25 year old laptop. I usually bounce everything down to that. I never really learned how to record drums well digitally so I try to save the wear and tear for that. All those wizards are dying so it’s hard to get stuff repaired if you don’t know how to do it.
PT: There’s some guy who’s open one day a week and only takes special orders.
CVG: Yeah or you’re mailing it and that’s just really expensive. I just go with whatever makes things easiest and quickest. The reason I liked tape to begin with is because it was really cheap and you just press play/record and then you’re rolling.
PT: And it sounds like that was just the most available option. I read online that you were making your own instruments, is making and playing your own instruments something you’re still into?
CVG: Yeah I definitely still do that. On Peace Museum I’m playing a lot of homemade instruments. Like some homemade clarinets, odds and ends, weird drum machines. I got into circuit bending like 25 years ago and then I got into repairing my own gear out of economic necessity. There was a point where I was like, “This is the future,” but then I still like folk music so…
PT: Did you ever make an instrument where it was something so weird you had to come up with your own special name for it?
CVG: Oh that’s interesting! I’ve named a few instruments. I have a double-sided kalimba which I call the Peacemaker. Two people can sit down if they’re arguing or having a disagreement and then they can face each other and place this instrument. That clarinet is called the Barnswallow, just because it’s really small. There’s nothing so weird that I needed to just give it a name. I guess there’s this Oscillating Junk Heap that circles around until it destroys itself.
PT: Do you have any plans to tour or anything do you? How are you navigating the music landscape right now? Is it just continuing to self release, making music with friends, benefits, things like that?
CVG: Yeah pretty much. I feel pretty relaxed about it now, I’m pretty antiquated in the equation at this point. But I will go out this fall and do some shows around Canada. Possibly Europe if that anchors to any festivals. Like I said, I’m a dad so when I do something it’s pretty sporadic. There’s a project I’m in called CG Tears. We’re putting out a record and we’ll be playing a few festivals as that band.
PT: Where can we hear the album?
CVG: It’ll be out on Bandcamp and then it’s releasing on this small Canadian label Victory Pool.
PT: So you’re not down for the count yet!
CVG: Oh never! I’ve got another Full Moon Bummer record done. I’m going to try to put out something, like a record, every month or two just because I can, because I enjoy it.
PT: How do you have the time?
CVG: I just love it so much. There’s a backlog of stuff kicking around… I just keep writing the same songs on the same chords.
PT: Just releasing the same songs over and over again?
CVG: Yeah when I play them for my kids they’re like, "Didn't you already write this song?”
PT: I did read something that was saying every musician, every artist is basically creating from the same idea over and over again. Refining it.
CVG: Yeah, and it’s fun. It’s kind of like sudoku building a song piece by piece. I like singing and weird instruments.
PT: Do you get a lot of inspiration from your surroundings and nature? I was listening to the Nth synth album while biking this morning because I read the description on Bandcamp. I was biking and then working in the wee hours of the morning totally blissed out, but it also felt like I was on a different planet. Some of those songs put you in such a different headspace.
CVG: Yes dude! I’m a sci-fi nerd at heart. I like to go there and create these spaces where you can disappear into another realm that’s not the human Earth realm. I made that stuff for myself to go on dog walks. I’m so glad you were listening to it on the bike ride, that’s what it's for.
PT: I took your advice down to a tee. I feel like biking is one of the best ways to listen to music.
CVG: Oh yeah, it’s the best to do anything. I’m looking to get out there and do some biking and set up a tent in the countryside. Seems like a good way to go on vacation for cheap, solo. I’m trying to keep it as minimal as I can. As you get into it you’re like, oh this is a thing for rich folk.
PT: People online go crazy for the gear!
CVG: It might make more sense as I get into it.
PT: Sometimes I’m on Reddit looking for advice on gear and it almost makes me not want to buy anything. Everyone always recommends the ‘best’ stuff which is always so expensive.
CVG: My wife's brother has an Archteryx sponsorship and Archteryx was a Vancouver company so I understood why it was so expensive. But now everything’s made in the same factories everywhere. He’s always getting free shit and we are the same size so he’ll give me these jackets and I’ll just thrash them. And then it’s like a $700 jacket!
PT: That’s what’s happening to all these companies.
CVG: Whether you’re a band or a small company it’s hard to keep costs low.
PT: It’s hard to justify handmade and higher costs to the masses. We’ve talked about AI a little bit with music, generative content; the vast majority of the population seems to be fine with it.
CVG: Absolutely. There’s always people into the human touch, but I feel like a lot of people can’t even tell anymore, especially the seniors. That’s the scariest part.
PT: Have you had any close calls with scams?
CVG: Daily! It’s a weird state to be in when you feel like you can’t really believe anything anymore. And people have said it, but I feel like we’re moving to that point where we’ve overdosed on everything and maybe we’ll slowly move away from being so online.
PT: Hopefully the turning point is coming.
CVG: Or maybe not. I don’t know. Flip the switch, would you flip the switch? Send us back to starting a fire with some flint?